Airport and highway cleaning machines



Jan. 11, 1966 H. J. WIEBE AIRPORT AND HIGHWAY CLEANING MACHINES 5Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 4, 1963 INVENTOR.

HENRY J. WIEBE BY AT TORNEY.

Jan. 11, 1966 H. J. WIEBE 3,

AIRPORT AND HIGHWAY CLEANING MACHINES Filed Jan. 4, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet2 m 53 r0 3 r0 NCO mm mm mm LO :2 m

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' 3'; m HENRY J. WIEBE. r0

ATTORNEY.

Jan. 11, 1966 H. J. WIEBE 3,

AIRPORT AND HIGHWAY CLEANING MACHINES Filed Jan. 4, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet3 INVENTOR. HENRY J. WIEBE.

ATTORNEY.

Jan. 11, 1966 H. J. WIEBE AIRPORT AND HIGHWAY CLEANING MACHINES 5Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 4, 1963 w 6 I u 4 1\ N mw w b N 5 1V- 6 5V R 7v w L% H 4 5 1 5 6 3 4 5 4 V 4 5 6 5 4 w L 4 556 2 5 4 E3 5 I 5 5 r f 45 ATTORNEY.

Jan. 11, 1966 H. J. WIEBE AIRPORT AND HIGHWAY CLEANING MACHINES 5Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 4, 19

rigid/ m 1%7/ 4 a J ww7// ////J INVENTOR. HENRY d. WIEBE.

ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,228,125 AIRPORT AND HIGHWAY CLEANING MAKIHINESHenry J. Wiehe, Cincinnati, ()hio, assignor to General Aeromation, Inc.,Cincinnati, Ghio, a corporation of Ohio Filed J an. 4, 1963, Ser. No.249,449 Claims. (CI. 37-12) This invention relates to an improved methodand machine for removing snow, slush, loose ice and water from airportrunways or highways.

Airports with extensive runways have great difficulty in winter inclearing the runways in a resonable time after adverse weatherconditions have caused the runways to become unsuitable for the landingor take-off of planes. At times it is necessary to close down theairport due to lack of proper equipment to remove snow, slush, loose iceor water. My improved machine is capable of clearing a wide path at highspeed, thus greatly decreasing the shut down time at any given runway.

This invention provides a pair of jet engines mounted on the forward endof a suitable truck, with the jet engines adjustable to provideover-lapping transverse blasts to clean the runway or highway of snow,slush, loose ice or water. The jet engines can be adjusted for height orangularity to suit the particular conditions of the surface to becleaned. This arrangement eliminates the thrust of the jet engines fromretarding the forward movement of the truck.

By pairing up the jet engines so that they essentially blast in oppositedirections allows full thrust to be applied forward of the truck and atright angles to its path without veering the truck off its course. Thisarrangement, by eliminating the rearward thrust of the jet engines andthe overcoming by the truck of such rearward thrust, allows the fullpower of the jet engines to be used most efiectively in clearing therunway or highway, while at the same time allowing the truck to use itsfull power in propelling the machine forward at high speed.

A further object is to provide a truck with forward arms supporting jetengines which are adjustable on the arms to create a transverse blastrelative to the forward movement of the truck.

A further object is to provide means to tilt the jet engines to directthe blast in the desired vertical direction.

A further object is to provide a vehicle with jet engines which blastthe material completely out of the path of the vehicle, requiring norehandling of the blasted material.

A further object is to eliminate the thrust of the jet engines fromretarding the forward movement of the truck.

A further object is to provide means for adjusting the position of thejet engines to aid in the forward movement of the truck.

My invention will be further readily understood from the followingdescription and claims, and from the drawings, in which latter:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of my improved machine.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of one of the cylinders and controlvalve.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged detail section, taken in the plane of the line 55of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged detail section, taken in the plane of the line 6-6of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the hydraulic system for controlling themovement and positioning of the jet engines.

3,228,125 Patented Jan. 11, 1966 FIG. 8 is an enlarged detail sectionsimilar to FIG. 5 of a modification of the invention, taken in the planeof the line 8-8 of FIG. 9.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged detail section of the modification, taken in theplane of the line 99 of FIG. 8.

My improved machine comprises a truck 11 of standard design with a fueltank 12 mounted on the body to supply fuel to the jet engines 13 and 14.A supporting structure 15 is secured to the frame 16 of the truck as at17 and has an arm 18 extending forward over the cab 19 of the truck. Atransverse arm 20 extends across the forward end of the truck and hasarms 21 secured to the forward end of the truck frame 16. The ends ofthe transverse arms 20 extend forward as at 22 and have vertical sleeves23 welded of the ends of the arms. Castings 24 and 25' are rotatable inthe sleeves 23 and are provided with upper flanges 26 and held inposition by nuts 27. A pair of hydraulic cylinders 28 and 29 are held inthe casting 24 and hydraulic cylinders 30 and 31 are held in the casting25 by clamps 32. Non-rotative sliding members 33 are slidable in thecastings 24 and 25 and have rocker arms 34 pivoted thereto as at 35. Thecylinders 28, 29, 3t} and 31 have pistons 36 and connecting rods 37pivoted to the rocker arms 34 as at 38. Bands 39 encircle the jetengines 13 and 14 and are secured to the rocker arms 34 for supportingthe jet engines. The flanges 26 on the castings 24 and 25 haveextensions 40 to which connecting rods 41 are pivoted as at 42. Theconnecting rods 41 connect to pistons in the cylinders 43 and 44. Thecylinders 43 and 44 are held in brackets 45 welded to the forward arms22.

Control valves which are all alike, one for each of the cylinders 28,29, 3t 31, 43 and 44 are located in the cab of the truck. One of thesevalves is shown in FIG. 4. The valves comprise a housing 46 to which acontrol handle 47 is linked to operate the sliding valve 48. Thehydraulic system consists of .a reservoir 49, a pump 50, an accumulator51 having a line 52 extending therefrom to supply fluid under pressureto the valves. A line 53 connects from the reservoir 49 to each end ofthe valve housings. Lines 54 and 55 extend from the valve housings toeach end of each cylinder to provide pressure on each side of thepistons.

The jet engines can be raised or lowered or angularly adjusted byoperation of the respective valves controlling the pistons in thecylinders 28 and 29, or 36 and 31. The movement of the pistons in thesecylinders will cause the rocker arm to be adjusted angularly or to raiseor lower as the non-rotatable member 33 slides up or down in thecastings 24 or 25. The valves controlling the pistons in cylinders 43and 44 are operable to cause the castings 24 or 25 to rotate in thesleeves 23 to turn the jet engines in a horizontal plane from a directtransverse position relative to the truck, to a position whereby the jetengines will blast in a somewhat angular rearward direction to aid inthe forward propulsion of the truck.

This structure provides a method of clearing a wide path either on arunway or roadway by blasting the snow, ice, slush or water in divergentpaths transverse of the movement of the vehicle without impairing themovement of the vehicle. The strong blast of the jet engines permits thevehicle to move at a rapid speed for thoroughly cleaning the surfaceover which it passes.

The jet engines are mounted in offset relation to each other with therear of each jet engine facing each other to blast in an over-lappingaction to remove the material from the runway or roadway and divertingthe material sidewise away from the path of the vehicle. In order toprevent the jet engines from drawing in debris, battles may be providedon the intake end of the jet engines to draw air from above the engines.

In the modification shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the nonrotating slidingmembers 133 instead of being connected to rocker arms terminate in yokes134 and are pivoted as at 135 to bands 136 clamped around the jetengines 13 and 14 The pistons 28, 29, 30 and 31 have connecting rods 137terminating in yokes 138. These yokes are pivoted to the bands 136 as at139. This arrangement permits all stresses to be centered on the centerline of the jet engines and the yokes 134 and relieves all tension onthe yokes 138.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. An airport runway and highway cleaning machine comprising;

(a) a truck,

(b) a structure attached to said truck and extending forward of saidtruck,

() said structure terminating in a pair of laterally spaced verticalsleeves,

(d) said sleeves being longitudinally offset,

(e) members vertically movable in said sleeves, and

(f) jet engines secured to said members in transverse position to saidtruck with the discharge ends of said engines positioned so that theblast of one engine is directed in a direction opposite to the blast ofthe other engine and in passing relation to each other.

2. An airport runway and highway cleaning machine comprising;

(a) a truck,

(-b) a structure attached to said truck and extending forward of saidtruck,

(c) said structure terminating in a pair of laterally spaced verticalsleeves,

(d) said sleeves being longitudinally oifset,

(e) rotatable members in said sleeves,

(f) sliding members in said rotatable members,

(g) rocker arms attached to said sliding members,

(b) means for moving said sliding members vertically in said rotatablemembers, and

(i) jet engines secured to said rocker arms in transverse position tosaid truck with the discharge ends of said engines positioned so thatthe blast of one engine is directed in a direction opposite to the blastof the other engine and in passing relation to each other.

3. An airport runway and highway cleaning machine comprising;

(a) a truck,

(b) a structure attached to said truck,

(0) said structure extending forward of said truck and terminating in apair of laterally spaced vertical sleeves,

(d) said sleeves being longitudinally offset,

(e) members held in non-rotative position in said sleeves,

'(f) rocker arms attached to said members,

(g) jet engines secured to said rocker arms in transverse position tosaid truck with the discharge ends of said engines positioned so thatthe blast of one engine is directed in a direction opposite to the blastof the other engine and in passing relation to each other, and

(h) means associated with said sleeves for rocking, raising or loweringsaid rocker arms to change the position of said jet engines.

4. An airport runway and highway cleaning machine comprising;

(a) a vehicle,

(b) a structure attached to said vehicle,

(0) said structure extending forward of said vehicle and terminating ina pair of laterally spaced vertical sleeves,

(d) said sleeves being longitudinally ofiset,

(e) members rotatable in said sleeves,

(f) non-rotative members slidable in said rotatable members,

(g) rocker arms pivoted to said non-rotatable members,

(h) jet engines secured to said rocker arms in transverse position tosaid vehicle with the discharge ends of said engines positioned so thatthe blast of one engine is directed in a direction opposite to the blastof the other engine and in passing relation to each other, and

(i) means operable to vertically change the angularity, raise, lower orrotate said rocker arms to change the position of said jet engines.

5. An airport runway and highway cleaning machine comprising;

(a) a vehicle,

(-b) a structure attached to said vehicle,

(c) said structure extending forward of said vehicle and terminating ina pair of laterally spaced vertical sleeves,

(d) said sleeves being longitudinally offset,

(e) members rotatable in said sleeves,

(f) non-rotatable members slidable in said rotatable members andterminating in yokes,

(g) jet engines in transverse position to said vehicle with thedischarge ends of said engines positioned so that the blast of oneengine is directed in a direction opposite to the blast of the otherengine and in passing relation to each other,

(h) bands clamped around said jet engines,

(i) said yokes pivoted to said bands, and

(j) means operable to vertically change the angularity,

raise, lower or rotate said jet engines.

References Cited by the Examiner v UNITED STATES PATENTS CHARLES A.WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner,

W. A. SCHEEL, Examiner.

1. AN AIRPORT RUNWAY AND HIGHWAY CLEANING MACHINE COMPRISING; (A) A TRUCK, (B) A STRUCTURE ATTACHED TO SAID TRUCK AND EXTENDING FORWARD OF SAID TRUCK, (C) SAID STRUCTURE TERMINATING IN A PAIR OF LATERALLY SPACED VERTICAL SLEEVES, (D) SAID SLEEVES BEING LONGITUDINALLY OFFSET, (E) MEMBERS VERTICALLY MOVABLE IN SAID SLEEVES, AND (F) JET ENGINES SECURED TO SAID MEMBERS IN TRANSVERSE POSITION TO SAID TRUCK WITH THE DISCHARGE ENDS OF SAID ENGINES POSITIONED SO THAT THE BLAST OF ONE ENGINE IS DIRECTED IN A DIRECTION OPPOSITE TO THE BLAST OF THE OTHER ENGINE AND IN PASSING RELATION TO EACH OTHER. 